Rose is the founder and president of Cardinal Investments,
which he now operates with his Pioneer partner Marshall
Payne. The company has major stakes in Ace Cash Express (which cashes
checks for the working poor for up to 6 percent of face value) and aviation
and defense electronics firm Sierra Technologies. Rose was Cardinal’s sole
owner in ’86, when he participated in a sneaky deal with one of Bush’s
biggest donors. Richard Rainwater, an ex-investment advisor to the oil-rich
family of Pioneer Lee Bass, arranged to borrow
$300 million at high interest rates to buy Darling-Delaware Co. and other
animal-fat rendering companies. Darling-Delaware had been a profitable,
tax-paying company. After the takeover it was swamped with huge debt payments.
Meanwhile, its new owners rewarded themselves with $180 million in “special
dividends.” Suddenly, the company was operating at a loss. It stopped paying
taxes and even collected a multi-million-dollar refund from the U.S. Treasury.
Taxpayers got bilked while Rainwater, Rose and their cronies divvied up
the $180 million in “special-dividend” fat. In a subsequent deal, Rainwater
and Rose joined other investors and Bush in buying the Texas Rangers. Rose
was a general partner with Bush at the Rangers, which made Bush a millionaire
15 times over. Much of this profit derived from a large equity stake that
other partners in the investment gifted to Bush, as well as the $135 million
that local taxpayers forked out for the Rangers’ new Ballpark in Arlington.